February 22, 2009

There were 4 posts published on February 22, 2009 (this is page 1 of 1).

Healthy Cities forum

Saturday’s Healthy City talks were more urban-design oriented than Friday’s Growing In Place symposium. It was held in a ballroom of the new Convention Center and attracted a more professional crowd it seemed. As a lowly parks volunteer I felt a bit out of my league but tried gamely to keep up.

I found a few presentations to be a bit dry, but the presentation by James Charlier was amusing and informative. His slides showed many examples of well-designed city streets and poorly-designed city streets, many of which exist in the same city. I also enjoyed hearing all about Chicago’s green initiatives in Sadhu Johnston’s presentation. Chicago is going green in a typically-Chicago way: big.

Beyond that, the day was useful for networking, and I got a chance to say hello to some good people designing good cities. While Saturday’s talks didn’t carry the impact of Friday’s for me, they were still well worth attending. I’m glad I got a chance to go.

Growing In Place Symposium

Friday’s Growing In Place Symposium was about how cities could be designed for not only adults but kids as well. There were many discussions which focused on city parks – a topic near and dear to my heart as a Parks board member. The takeaway is that playgrounds should not engineer all the fun out in an effort to eliminate all risk. There were also some cities mentioned which do a good job of making themselves kid-friendly. I loved seeing these approaches.

I spent quite a bit of time chatting with the speakers after their talks, picking their brains about these ideas and collecting their presentation slides when I could. I also tried to make note of all the books mentioned so that I could become more informed.

It was a long day in one room but I appreciated all the new ideas I discovered. Hopefully I can help put them to use here in Raleigh.

End of a busy, busy, busy week

The third week of the month is typically busy for me, but this one was especially so. I led a boisterous East CAC meeting Monday, bringing me home around 10 PM. I had Tuesday night “off.” Wednesday night was the Raleigh CAC meeting, which began at 7 (allowing me to eat supper with the family) and got me home about 10 PM.

Upon returning home Wednesday night I discovered my home computer server was wheezing and apparently on its last legs, so I spent another three hours moving it all to a new server. Bedtime was at 1:15 AM.

Thursday evening was my Parks board meeting, beginning at 5:30 PM and ending around 6:45 PM. That night, I spent over an hour picking through and explaining some new zoning issues for a nearby neighborhood, an effort which went largely unappreciated, sorry to say.

I took the day off of work Friday to spend it at the Growing In Place Symposium. Friday followed by the Healthy Cities presentations most of Saturday. Oh, and we also squeezed in a visit to Rolesville to visit our friends and former neighbors for dinner.

Now I feel sleepy. Is it any wonder?

Peanuts, and more

I decided to enjoy a snack of peanuts after taking Rocket around the neighborhood. The label says “Harris Teeter Peanuts – Dry Roasted, Lightly Salted.”

They are indeed dry roasted and lightly salted. Unfortunately, they are also a few other things, too. The ingredient list:

Peanuts, Salt, Cornstarch, Sugar, Maltodextrin, Monosodium Glutamate (Flavor Enhancer), Yeast, Dried Corn Syrup, Paprika and Other Spices, Extractives of Paprika, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Natural Flavor, Garlic and Onion Powder.

I really only wanted peanuts and some salt, though its good that they slipped in the “natural flavor” at the end of that list – as long as it’s natural. Don’t want anything that isn’t natural, you know. Also, I’m not sure how “extractives” differ from “extracts,” either. It might be like the way some people say “utilize” instead of “use,” as if the extra two syllables somehow add importance.

At least salmonella wasn’t on the list.